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If, like myself, your team is out of the finals race and you haven’t already done so, you may be in the process of deciding which team to lend your allegiance to during September.
In most years there is usually only one or perhaps two teams who have surprisingly made the finals. Or whose efforts throughout the season have transcended their own supporter base, and in doing so won the admiration of opposition fans.
Last year it was Port Adelaide. Written off as finals contenders at the beginning of 2014, they quickly become many people’s second team with their attractive style of attacking football. After 14 rounds, and with only two losses to their name, they were a game clear of perennial finalists Sydney and on top of the ladder.
The Power then proceeded to lose seven of their last eleven games to limp into fifth
place, before storming home in the finals. They only narrowly missed out on playing off in a grand final after going down to eventual premiers Hawthorn by three points, in the penultimate game of the season.
While Port Adelaide have slipped just as quickly out of premiership contention this year as they moved into it last season, not just one, but several teams have taken their place. It has caused a quandary for those looking for a bandwagon to jump onto in September.
First there is the Western Bulldogs. No-one in their right mind would have predicted the Dogs would be challenging for a top-four finish after their disastrous end to the 2014 season.
Having lost their coach, captain, as well as 348 games worth of experience in Adam Cooney and Shaun Higgins, the general consensus was that they and their supporters were in for a tough few years.
A little less than 12 months later the Bulldogs have become the 2015 version of Port Adelaide. Coach Luke Beveridge has them playing a brand of football that not just Bulldogs fans, but all supporters have been craving for. Fast, free flowing and daring.
Almost everybody’s favourite footballer in Robert Murphy has led the team remarkably well, while a host of young stars in the making have Doggies supporters salivating in anticipation of what is to come.
Players such as Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae, Jake Stringer, Lachie Hunter, Mitch Wallis, Luke Dahlhaus and Shane Biggs will form the nucleus of this side for a decade, which will also be improved next year by the return of Tom Liberatore and the development of promising big man Tom Boyd.
Stewart Crameri is in the form of his career, while veterans Matthew Boyd, Dale Morris and Liam Picken have been given a new spark of life, both from positional changes made by Beveridge, and one suspects from the exuberance of the talented youth at the club.
Everybody loves a battler, and there is no better example of one in the AFL than the Western Bulldogs. One premiership in their history attests to that. An unlikely second in 2015 would be a fitting way to finish a season which has, at times, been filled with so much negativity and sadness.
Although the hype surrounding the West Coast Eagles has not been as loud as that of the Bulldogs, their efforts throughout the season match up, or at least come close to that of the Dogs.
An unknown quantity at the start of the season, the Eagles were quickly written off after losing key back men Mitch Brown and Eric McKenzie to injury early on. Their loss was compounded by an injury to Fraser McInnes in Round 10, and then Jeremy McGovern in Round 16.
Despite the loss of key personnel, coach Adam Simpson has come up with a game plan that decreases their dependency on big backs. Named the ‘Weagles Web’ by former Swan Gerard Healy, it is a moving defence that blocks spaces rather than relying on man on man, and also allows their players to switch quickly into attack.
They have been able to do this through the vast improvement of their midfield with players like Andrew Gaff, Elliot Yeo, Luke Shuey and Dom Sheed all having arguably their best seasons to date. Meanwhile the Eagles’ forward line of Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling, Mark LeCras, Jamie Cripps, Josh Hill and either Nic Naitanui or Callum Sinclair is as good as any in the AFL, with the possible exception of Hawthorn.
After their win in last weekend’s derby, the Eagles are a very realistic chance of finishing second, and to many are now the team to beat out of Western Australia, rather than ladder leaders Fremantle.
This week’s game between the Bulldogs and the Eagles should be a fantastic contest of open running and hopefully high scoring football. And for mine this is the game where I shall most likely decide whose bandwagon I will jump onto for September.
However, if neither of these two teams take your fancy, there are a few others that could warrant your temporary support for various reasons.
Who could not help but get at least a little caught up in the frenzy that followed the Tiger’s win over the Hawks a few weeks ago, only to once again be flattened by another unexpected loss to the Crows the following week.
After watching your own team miss out, not to mention the anguish of Tiger supporters over the years as they have been plied with hope only to crash and burn, it may be better to give your emotions a rest. However a successful September for the Tigers would be a sight to behold and exciting to be even a temporary part of.
Then of course there is Adelaide. One of the lowest points of the season was the tragic and needless death of coach Phil Walsh, but what followed was possibly the most amazing month in football history.
The coming together of the footballing community was so profound you could not help but feel caught up in the moment – no matter which state you hail from or who you support.
Even the most ardent supporter of any club could not begrudge the Adelaide Football Club of having a successful September. Were the Crows to go all the way, the city of Adelaide would probably stop for a week, and I am sure there would be many around the country who would share in their joy.
Of course if your team missing finals has you so despondent you don’t care who wins or loses from here on in, that’s OK too. Sometimes a failed season feels like the mourning period for a loved one, and even temporarily supporting another club may seem like a form of treachery.
However that decision rests wholly with you, and whomever you may decide to follow (or not), I wish you all the best of luck in September.
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